Weight of the Cross
The Weight of the Cross Hiten.jpg|Hiten Nishin|link=Hiten Nishin Tabris.jpg|Tabris Nishin|link=Tabris Nishin Kagohei.jpg|Kagohei Nishin|link=Kagohei Nishin Kagato.jpg|Kagato Nishin|link=Kagato Nishin Kagato looked up, he could sense it in the air, there was no doubt in his mind as to who was coming, and it wasn’t just one person. He managed to jump out of the way right before a reishi arrow struck the ground just to the left of him, a great white reishi cross erupted from the ground at the area of the strike, turning to face the direction of the shot Kagato, with the cross now at his back, he was greeted by altogether too familiar faces, three figures all with light hair gently swaying in the wind, the one at the centre, was lined up and looking directly towards Kagato, “Father…”. He said softly yet curtly. Kagato’s father Lord General Kagohei Nishin was standing atop of the building opposite and on either side of him, Kagato knew who it was going to be even without sensing their reiatsu, it was his uncle Tabris and his son, the prodigy, Hiten. Even from this distance Kagato could tell the emotion that was currently sprawled across his father’s face, it was most definitely disgust, he had not returned to the Quincy order since the early days of his hybridisation, for fears on how they would react to him now being part hollow, was even greater than his father discovering he was not even a true Quincy. It was this fear, this fear on what may happen to him that caused him to leave without saying goodbye, and to be honest he hadn’t had thought they would notice. Whatever had prompted it now was irrelevant, they had found him and for the fact they came as such, the three of them alone, proved it was an issue they felt they needed to keep confidential. Even without these deductions the look on their faces and they fact that Tabris had already gripped his chain and pendant, ready to summon his hellig bowen at a moment’s notice told him, they had not come for a pleasant chat. “Kagato.” His father responded, cold and curt. Kagato felt the urge to drop his head and hang it in shame and may have well done so if not for Hiten, his shit eating grin was so bright and piercing Kagato was sure it was channeling reishi itself. His twelve year old cousin was the pride of the Quincy, the youngest person to unlock a vollstandig in recorded history, thought to be the heir to Arjuna. This wouldn’t have bothered Kagato so much if things were different, but the stress and the strain placed on him by his fathers role, his own lineage and Hiten’s own smugness made it unbearable. Kagato was tempted to run, but he knew if he did so, he may be able to escape but they would find him and if they had to chase him once more, he had no idea how thing would turn out if they caught him. It was then, his father and the others using Hirenkyaku to trapese the gap between the buildings and we soon face to face with him. His fathers hand was touching his Reishi Gun and the Nishin Hellig Bowen, Judgement, but even Kagato knew his father was not brazen enough to fully grasp his weapon while speaking to his son, at least this early in the discussion. "Kagato, it has been brought to our attention, you have commited the gravest of all crimes, by welcoming hybrisation you have turned you back on and brought great shame to our noble family. What do you have to say for yourself?" Kagohei asked, the formality of his words clearly holding back an anger. This was now Kagato's chance to answer and he had to make his words count, "I did not choose this, nor shall I turn my back on it or allow myself to feel shame for who I am. I have a purpose greater than you could possibly imagine." Kagato explained quickly, eager to get the words out. Tabris simply huffed at this, the disdain evident on his face. "You truly believe this, you believe, you who is tainted by the dead and the beasts are greater than our holy order!" Kagohei's anger was rising and now clearly noticable. But Kagato stood his ground and looked at his father directly in the eyes, while their eyes were matched Kagato released a small amount of Hollow style reiatsu, changing the colour of his eyes. His father instantly responding to his raised Judgement, causing Kagato to jump back and manifest his Sword of Exclusion, a poetic choice of weapon. "Raising a sword against your own father, against So this is the path you have chosen Kagato! Very well! And so it begins!" And all three of the enemies before Kagato, activated thier Hellig Bowen. The Poison of God, Serpent of Eden and Blood of the Cross vibrantly pulsing in the air, all pointed towards him. This caused Kagato to narrow his eyes this was it then. "No! This is the path that you chose, that you placed me on, so now it ends!" Kagato said jumping to meet them in battle. His father and uncle loosed a barrage of arrows toward Kagato, luckily Exclusion's ability of magnetising reishi allowed him to create a repulsion feild causing the arrows to skew around him. His family had yet to move from their location, Kagohei and Tabris still with their bows raised, while Hiten simply stood his eyes staring through Kagato with a sort of apathetic hatred, if there even such a feeling. And then as if his vision distorted Hiten was gone, before reappearing directly infront of Kagato fist drawn back as if to punch him. Kagato reacted near instantly, but still a little bit so slow, raising Exclusion to block Hiten's Blood of the Cross. He was still clipped slightly, as the sword tried to divert his cousins attack, making the point of contact small but still devastating. When the fist made contact with Kagato reishi was exploded outwards in a vector from Hiten's mounted bow, Kagato was thrown back, the pain causing his eyes to glow brighter with Hollow intensity to supplement his healing abilities. Kagato managed to jump up, but before he could brush himself off, Hiten was upon him this time a direct blow, blasting him dead in the centre. Kagato was thrust through the air, regaining his bearings Kagato managed to jump well clear of his cousin. Currently pain was rolling throughout his body, radiating from his chest, luckily his hollow powers had already got to work on the healing, but if Hiten could launch off more of those faster than he could heal it wouldn't end well for him. Hiten although excelling across all the different quincy techniques mainly focused on hand to hand, increasing his speed and striking force, quite opposite from normal quincies, but then again none of them here right now could be considered normally quincies, they were the children of Arjuna, excellence was in their blood. That blood that Hiten was using to draw out Kagato's own. Kagato managed to jump backward tucking into a flip before landing on all fours, Exclusion reverting back to it's usually pendant form, his fingers and toes now tipped with claws and his face framed with fangs, he was releasing his hollow side in order to keep up with Hiten, he could go Banrei but that may be overkill. Kagato sped off towards his cousin. The tips of his claws, bright with reishi, his claws had the same ability as his sword the ability to magnetise reishi so as Kagato closed the gap between hiten and himself, opening his palm and using his claws as a focal point he summoned a ball of reishi in his hand and thrust it forward at his cousin, the energy output tremendous sending Hiten back and disorienting him. If Hiten had not placed so much emphasis and energy on maintaining his blut vene and using ransotengai as a sort of fine thread armour, then that attack would have devastated him, but luckily he was resilient enough to tank it. While Hiten was sprawling, attempting to regain his footing Kagato turned to see his father glare piercing through him, the shame was so overwhelmingly powerful Kagato could feel it actively affecting his abilties, which due to his Human origin meant they were very reactive to emotional change. Kagohei closed the gap between himself and his son, he must have either been extremely brave, or he no longer felt Kagato was worthy of his fear or pity. Kagohei stood about a metre and a half away from his son, he was taking in the fangs, the claws, the yellow of his eyes and the aura of menace that now covered his son. As he stood there evaluating, Kagato's agitation slowly dissipated and was replaced but shame, his hollow adornments simply melting away until was just Kagato again. It was then his father opened his mouth to speak. "Is power that important to you, that you could justify this, defiling the body and form granted to us via our holy father Arjuna. Even as a child I guess I could see it, unlike Hiten you couldn't put the work in, just being a quincy was never going to be enough for you was it?" The words rung through Kagato's head, the accusations and the scolding for something he had no control, no autonomy over, the feeling was pure rage! "HOW DARE YOU!" Kagato exclaimed, the fangs and claws alongside his eyes were returning. Kagato held up his quincy cross and his chain, "LOOK AT THIS! This is all I have ever wanted, all I dreamed about for the longest time, was being a great quincy like you! But that was not my destiny, I could never tell you father but I am not a quincy, after years and years of trying my spiritual energy had to go somewhere and it was then I developed my full bringing capabilities." Holding up the cross and the chain, "The Links of Creation, for I was so happy to have created something that potentially make you proud, but soon the truth dawned on me I would never made you proud to call yourself my father, so when I was kidnapped and experimented on, you wonder why I never came and told you, you who I feared would never love me as this, as it was chore to do so when I was human, for this, for the exclusion and feelings of lonliness within the Quincy order my cross manifested itself as this! The Sword of Exclusion!" The cross growing into a full sized Zweihander. Kagohei's eyes were going wide at these revelations, Kagato was currently channeling both human and hollow abilities and with his sword drawn he could if he felt like it access Banrei and show his father his true form, the form in which he was the most beautiful. "You made me feel worthless my whole life, so much so that it is marked upon my soul and my weapon, I am the creation and I weild the exclusion as my weapon. I am not a quincy, I am what you made me and so much more! I am Kagato Nishin Tsurugi! And challenge you to Sternenkrieg!" At this exclamation there was a sudden silence. Kagohei's face stoically unreadable, the gap in the dialog and fighting making it unbearable. "No." Kagohei responded. "You stand there and spit at me you are no quincy, and the Sternenkrieg is a battle amongst Quincies and, or Darkstars, the children of the stars. You are naught but a wild beast. If I were to fight I would not, I could not hold back." Tears started to well in Kagato's eyes surrounded by a fierce rage, his father had spurned him once again. "The Sternenkrieg is the battle of the stars, I may not be a quincy but Arjuna's blood runneth through my veins I am a child of the stars and you cannot deny me this." Kagohei simply turned his head up, he had made his decision but you could see he was mulling over Kagato's response. Kagohei turned his head and looked at Hiten and the young boy nodded. Before jumping over to face Kagato, standing before him and squaring him up. "If you wish to fight me but invoking the name of Arjuna, then fight the heir to Arjuna using only your quincy powers and then and only then may I consider fighting you." Kagato could clearly hear the disdain in his fathers voice, he may have been able to justify his entrance into the Sternekrieg but Kagohei's stipulation that only quincy powers could be used and after admitting his base powers were fullbring abilities rather than true Quincy powers he had no way of defending himself. Kagato looked down at the cross and the pendant that hung from his wrist, such a shame that in inheriting Arjuna's powers he lost the Quincy aspect. But then it dawned on him, he had the mark of Krios, the very thing that birthed the quincies, sure he was using it to his flavour, but could he tweak it enough, make it resemble Arjuna's enough that the quincy techniques would respond to him. There was only one way to find out. Kagato raised the quincy cross on his wrist, pointing forward he focused on his mark of Krios as he funneled energy into the mediums, forcing and pushing the transformation via Krios and his mark. The sword and links burst to life, combined, similar yet different. Looking down in his hand, mounted on his wrist with supple white leather handle to grasp was a large silver bow, beautiful and slightly glowing with energy, like the ebbs and flows of the water. After taking a moment to look at his new weapon, Kagato looked up towards he father, uncle and cousin and their eyes were all focused on him, he had finally awakened his Quincy powers. The light that was radiating from him could be described as nothing less than beautiful, his sword and links had combined into one bow. Looking up at his family, he raised the bow high and spoke aloud the words that just felt natural to him. "Gandiva-X" Category:Prose